The defending champions, the UConn Huskies, are out! Their dance is over, and Dan Hurley’s dream of emulating John Wooden’s three-peat achievement is done. The game was filled with controversy over referee calls, but it ended in a heartbreaking 2-point loss for the Huskies. However, despite the stakes, the atmosphere around Lenovo Center didn’t feel like a big game. A match between the defending champions and one of the top programs in the country lacked the energy. But why?
On paper, the second-round showdown had all the ingredients for a sellout. But you might think back to something Dan Hurley admitted in February and reason with yourself. “This was the first time really since Maui… where the wheels just came off,” he had said of his team’s struggles. So, was it a lack of expectations and their rocky 2024-25 campaign that might have dampened fan enthusiasm?
Finishing the season with a 24-10 overall record and finishing 3rd in the Big East isn’t something you expect from a team looking to make history. Getting the 8th seed on Selection Sunday certainly didn’t help their case either. Yet, don’t you think UConn’s legacy was enough to draw a crowd? As for Florida fans, while energized by a 31-4 season, was it that they carried scars from recent tournament flops and didn’t want to see one again in person? A bad case of cold feet, perhaps?
The official capacity of the Lenovo Center is 19,500, but it looked like a ghost town. Photos and broadcasts showed vast swathes of unoccupied seats, particularly in premium areas near the court. For a game of this magnitude, the turnout was, well, embarrassing. A curious fan on Reddit could not help but raise the question. They asked, “Why are there so many empty seats at March Madness? Watching the UConn vs Florida game and it looks half full. I would understand if it was the first round number one ranked team in the nation vs a 16 seed. But its the defending champs vs one of the best in the nation”.
Reddit users flooded the thread with answers to help the curious fan. Let’s dive into some of the takes that help explain why a Round of 32 clash between two powerhouses had such a dull atmosphere!
Reddit users explain the embarrassing turnout at the UConn-Florida game
For those who don’t know, Lenovo Center is the home court of the North Carolina Tar Heels. And it also happened to host a second game later that day. Fans on Reddit pointed to this doubleheader dynamic as a key factor. One user explained, “Each site hosts two games today back to back, so fans of the second teams often don’t show up for the first game. Duke is the second game and they’re in Raleigh so it’s a whole lot of Duke fans.”
This theory holds weight. Raleigh is around 28 miles from Durham, Duke’s home turf, making it a de facto home game for the Blue Devils. With the Duke-Baylor game scheduled to happen after the UConn-Florida game and the tickets behind the UConn bench allocated to only Duke fans, it makes sense as to why the turnout was so low. And we should have seen this coming. A neutral site is bound to cause this. It has been a trend where average attendance for second-round games at neutral sites has dipped below capacity when local teams weren’t involved.
Another fan joined in and supported this claim by saying, “The second game at the site involves Duke. The UConn-Florida game is in North Carolina so it’s reasonable Duke fans hold most of the tickets. Most fans buy tickets just for their own game and spend at least the first half at bars or tailgating before going into the area. Also the seats directly behind the UConn bench is Duke’s allotted tickets. Which is family, big boosters, etc which is why those seats are empty.”
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There was another reason to explain the low turnout. Traveling costs! One fan on Reddit took to explain this by saying, “Travelling is expensive” which was further expanded by another user who said, “And the fans of the top teams think they will keep advancing, so they save their travel for later rounds.”
For UConn fans, the trek from Storrs, Connecticut, to Raleigh is roughly 550 miles—about a 9-hour drive or a $300-$400 round-trip flight, per Google Flights data for that weekend. Florida fans faced a similar haul: Gainesville to Raleigh is 530 miles, with flights averaging $350. Add lodging if that is in the equation (Raleigh hotel rates spiked to $200+ per night during the tournament, per Booking.com) and tickets starting at $131. Fans were probably expecting their teams to go further in the tournament. That way, they could watch the games without the long travel. Plus, it would save both time and money!
But one thing that baffled the curious user in question is that “But in my mind even if the duke fans bought most of the tickets. Why don’t people wasn’t to watch two amazing teams compete. I’m a spartan fan, even though I came to see MSU play as a fan of basketball I would make sure to watch as much as I could regardless of the team.” And fair enough, after all, the ticket prices included both the two matches.
Sparse crowds aren’t unique to Raleigh though. One fan shared a broader perspective, saying, “Additionally some sites aren’t the busiest. Went to MM in Buffalo and was less than half full in the closing minutes of game 3 in the round of 64.” KeyBank Center has hosted NCAA first- and second-round games seven times since 2000. While some years sold out, mainly due to strong regional teams like Syracuse, others lagged.
Another immediate factor could also be the game’s tipoff time: 12:10 p.m. ET on a Sunday. We’re talking about a noon game on a weekend after people might’ve been up late watching Saturday’s slate. One might love basketball, but amidst busy schedules, will they drag themselves out of bed for something they can watch from the comfort of their home? Not sure.
The post Eyewitnesses Notice Embarrassing Turn Out for UConn vs Florida as NCAA Community Tracks Down the Real Reason appeared first on EssentiallySports.